therefore the most unreasonable thing in the World to Impose the Modus of any thing which God has not clearly revealed upon Men as Essential to Salvation For most of those Modes are Metaphysical Notions which do as far exceed the Capacities of the Greatest part of Mankind as the Mysteries of the Incarnation and Trinity c. do those of All and even of the Angels who desire to peep or pry into them 1 Pet. 1.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they do not fully Understand them Is it not unreasonable to exact that from me upon the Credit of a Man or many Men Saying so which they are not able to shew me one positive Testimony or clear Consequence for from the mouth of God that it is so and that though I believe all that he requires as the Condition of Salvation yet I must be Accursed and Secluded from Salvation because I will not Lye and say I believe what in Truth I cannot for want of Evidence or Capacity Must I forfeit all I have on Earth and my hopes of Heaven too because I do not believe this or that Doctrine which God has given me a Capacity to believe nay which it may be contradicts all those Capacities of Sense and Reason which he has given me that I might believe them and which give me occasion to doubt his Truth for if he deceive my Senses he may deceive my Understanding and my Hopes at last Is not this to make God an Austere Master gathering where he has not scattered and like the Egyptian Taskmasters to require Brick where he has not afforded Straw to make it Far be it from the Judg of all the Earth to do this Wrong This is the very Case of the Sacrament of the Altar in Transubstantion For it is not enough to believe that Christ is really present there but I must give my senses the Lye which neither see him nor feel him a greater degree of Faith than he required of St. Thomas I must discard my Reason which assures me it is impossible that one Body should be in Infinite Places at the same time and believe how he is there Corporally or be a Heretick Though neither they who impose it upon me are agreed among themselves now it is nor am I able to Understand what they mean as the greatest part of the Vulgar are incapacitated to receive such Apprehensions and the most Learned are not able to express them so as to be Understood Sure it is very hard measure that a poor Christian should be made a Bloody Sacrifice to Cruelty because he does not because he cannot believe that Incruentum Sacrificium of the Mass and that the Glorified Son of God should be ravished from the Right hand of the Majesty on high to become passible again to Expiate for the sins of the Quick and the Dead Which if it be true must be the same that he suffered upon the Cross and a Bloody Sacrifice and as great an Impiety as that of the Wicked Jews who Slew the Lord of Life and hanged him upon the Tree and if it be real and not a Commemorative Sacrifice is for Christians to Crucifie the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame Heh 6.6 and if it be not the same Sacrifice which Christ offer'd it is not propitiatory and in reality only a sacrificing to our own Nets to Ensnare mens Souls The same Measure ought to be observed of all other Theological Points which admitting of variety of Opinions are not therefore to be imposed as Essentially necessary and the Conditions of Salvation WERE this observed it would put an End to those Intestine Quarrels which miserably rend the Peace and Unity of the Church by enlarging Faith to the Destruction of Charity which is making broad the Plylacteries and forgetting Justice and Mercy This would give a Supersedeas to those doubtful Disputations against which St. Paul gives an Express Command Rom. 14.1 And if men were permitted to believe or not believe according to the probability and full perswasion of their own Minds keeping their Faith to themselves in a private way which is true Christian Liberty where men do not impose their Opinions upon others as Essential to Salvation we should soon see an End of those Mortal Jarrs and those Unchristian Doctrines and their strange consequences which have fill'd the World with Error Horror and Confusion which Cruelty Injustice and Persecution not inferior to that of Pilate mingling the Blood of those Christians with their Sacrifices for whom Christ sacrificed his And were it possible to perswade Men to this Modesty and Moderation the Occasion of Quarrels being taken away they would live in Unity and Godly Love and not afflict themselves disquiet the World move Heaven and Earth for the Establishment of a doubtful Opinion as matter of Faith when may be it is not of Truth and without the knowledge of which they may attain Salvation Thus might Men Enjoy their Private Opinions without any prejudice to the Publique Peace and please themselves with their Knowledge without being puff't up to the Ruine of that Charity which Edifies and to the affronting Authority by disobedience because it will not permit their Private Opinions to Ride in the Triumphant Chariot of Conquerors over other mens Faith then with St. Augustine might men say Errare possum Hereticus esse nolo They might be mistaken and be neither Hereticks nor Schismaticks they might differ from others in their sense and yet agree in the Common and Essential Faith which as it owns so always maintains the Communion of Saints FOR it is not Mens Opinions but their Actions derived from those Opinions which disturb the Peace of the World and the Unity of the Church and a man may be of a contrary Perswasion to another in many things and yet Live as becomes a good Christian in Humility and Charity with him and all others it is a ferocious Pride and hasty Passion which pretends to make the Narrow way to Heaven wider by widening Differences and by opening the Gate to shut out all besides our selves The way is not in it self so narrow but that if men were lovers of Peace they might go thither without jostling one another it is not the way for us to Enter in at the strait Gate to do like the Pharisees shut others out They who pretend thus to be the Porters of Paradise usually are without the Gates themselves whilst they brandish the flaming Sword on every side to frighten others THEN would the Doctrines of Supremacy Satisfaction Purgatory c. which have rent the seamless Coat in a thousand pieces cease to make Divisions in the World But this we may wish and pray for but can scarcely hope to see so long as the insatiable thirst of Temporal Advantages stops the Mouth of Truth and the desire of Soveraignty shall Exalt the Idol of Profitable Opinion into the Throne and Sacred Temple of Divinely revealed Faith AND
evident the best Method to obtain Assent to them As the disagreement of the Church is to suspend our Belief But this can only be about such things as are collaterally of Faith and by coming under the Notion of things Dubious are matter of Opinion and which if a man never knows he may be saved and therefore if he does not believe he cannot be Damned the Church is the Interpreter but not the Judg and indeed every man is a Judg for himself by his Eyes his Ears his Reason and Understanding whether that which the Church Interprets be according to the Scripture the Rule of that Faith by which he is to be saved and which therefore it is necessary that he know before he believe it to Salvation BUT since doubts are of divers Natures Private and Publique let us see how any Person may be determined in both First therefore Where the doubt is only Private about things not determined by Publique Authority derived from Scripture which are of an Indifferent Nature Every Mans full perswasion is his Judg according to the best Evidence the things in doubt admit of from the light of Nature Reason or probability that they are good and Lawful or Evil and Unlawful This full Perswasion St. Paul calls Faith Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin that is what I am not fully perswaded in my own mind of the Lawfulness of I cannot lawfully do This was the Case of the Gentiles who having only the Law of Nature were a Law to themselves their thoughts either Accusing or Excusing them as they acted according to the best of their knowledg and full Perswasion But this Judgment is only Private and has nothing to do with any other Person Hast thou Faith have it to thy self who art thou that Judgest anothe Happy is he that Condemneth not himself in that which he alloweth This is the Error of our Times men will make their Private perswasions Judges of all other men and impose their Private Opinions as matters of Faith necessary to Salvation Against which the whole Scope of that whole 14th Chapter to the Romans is designed BUT there is also another Private Judg whom God has appointed with Reference to things both of Private and Publique Concern and that is Conscience the Rule of Conscience is the Scripture the measure of Conscience is the certainty of Knowledg and the Judgment of Conscience is the determination of the Mind and the Direction of our Practice according to it For thus I and every man Judges I therefore believe the Articles of the Christian Faith that I am to do good to All men to be Obedient to God and my Lawful Superiors to live Righteously soberly and Godly in this present World because I certainly know that these things are by God commanded in Scripture and whatever is not so in plain Words or Consequence is only matter of Opinion and not of Conscience Certainty of Knowledg being of the Essence of Conscience as Probability is of the Essence of Opinion BUT Secondly In regard this very Rule is in things of Publique Doubt and Concern in some things Dubious such as is the Controversie about Government And since the Holy Oracles may seem to admit of Diverse interpretations so that what satisfies one mans Judgment is quite Opposite and contrary to another We must inquire who are to be Judges and Interpreters of the Rule in these Publique Affairs For that there must be some Judg or Judges is plain because God commands Vnity and Obedience but these cannot be obtained without men be determined What and Whom to Obey St. Peter informs us 2 Pet. 1.20 2 Pet. 3.16 That it is not the Duty of Private men For no Scripture is of private Interpretation and shews us the danger Notwithstanding which bold men will venture at it as St. Hierom says of his days Hier. Ep. ad Paulinum Scripturarum Ars est quam passim omnes sibi vendicant hanc Garrula anus hanc delirus Senex hanc Sophista verbosus hanc universi presumunt lacerant docent antequam discant It seems in his time all people read the Scriptures For every prating Old Woman and Doating Old Man every Wrangling wordy Sophister challenges and presumes to tear the Scriptures in pieces and to teach others before they have learnt themselves Whereas these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Peter calls them Unlearned ungrounded People ought first to Learn But of whom There is but this Choice either this Power is in the People or in the Governors of the Church IT cannot be in the People for they are Private Persons and are incapacitated by being so to perform this Publique Office for what no one can do singly neither can all do Collectively what every man wants all must For if every man in the World had but one Eye all the World must want two And the People are to Obey in Learning and therefore not to Rule in Teaching Neither would it be possible to come to any Determination in any thing it being impossible to find all the People of one Nation City Village or Family Nay even one Person of the same mind for any continuance of Time and by consequence all Religion must stagger and totter with continual Changes Uncertainties and Alterations and at last fall to Ruine and Confusion Which Great Truth forced even Calvin himself to drop this Oracle so contrary to the Pretences of his now Followers who would have the Fences of Government which incloses Gods Vineyard thrown down and all laid Common by Tolleration and Liberty of Conscience Cal. Inst lib. 4. p. 10. Sect. 31. Quantarum Rixarum saith he semen futura sit Earum Rerum Confusio si prout cuique libitum sit mutare liceat quae ad communem Statum pertinent Quando nunquam futurum est ut omnibus idem placeat si res velut in medio Positae singulorum arbitrio relictoe fuerint Si penes singulos jus Arbitrium erit Judicandi nihil unquam certi constitui Poterit Quin potius tota vacillabit Religio Of how many and great Quarrels would such Confusion be the Nursery If it shall be Lawful for every man according to his Pleasure to change those things which belong to the Common State of Christianity Since it can never be possible that the same thing should please all so long as indifferent things are left to be determined according to every mans Arbitrary Pleasure And if the Power and Right the Liberty of Judging Arbitrarily be left to the pleasure of All nothing of certainty can ever be Established but rather all Religion will totter and tumble down THE Scripture must be Interpreted and is not of Private Interpretation what remains but that it is of Publique God commands Vnity but in doing so he would command an Impossibility if he had not appointed Means to obtain it to whom then can this Power be delegated to draw all mens private Opinions into one Common Rule
Vnity To these I might add Envy the Canker of the Mind the daughter of Discontent and constant Enemy of Peace Covetousness the Root of all Evil. Envy being the shadow of Honour and real Worth and Sacrilegious Covetousness the Ravenous Harpie that preys upon the small Patrimony of the Church which usually is the great perswasive to prophane and Rapacious Natures to treat her as the Atheistical Dionysius did his Apollo who rob'd him of his golden Robe alledging it was too cold for his Godship in Winter and too heavy in Summer but because these Fall in with Interest and Ambition I will not under different Names repeat the same things over again to nauseat the Judicious and tire the indifferent Reader with reiterated Tautologies CHAP. V. HAVING thus shewn what it is that impedes our Happiness and which therefore must of necessity be removed from the Minds of Men before there can be any Possibility of their Embracing Truth Unity and Charity in the next place we come to manifest the necessity of Vnion the only Expedient which can procure the Common Happiness of Mankind Now to make this appear we must look into the Main End and Design of all Religion here in this Mortal State of Life in order to that future Condition of a Glorious Immortality and that we may the better apprehend what that is we must consider the Commands and Precepts of Religion and at what they aim And because all the Rules of our Holy Profession direct us to it we must believe that God Almighty gave us those Precepts Rules and Directions to promote our own and the Common Happiness of all Mankind even here in this present State of Life to render our short Journey through the troublesom Stage of Time more pleasant and easy till we arrive at the unchangeable Happiness of Eternity This Easiness of Mind this real Happiness of Life is only to be obtain'd by following the precepts of Justice Temperance Sobriety Prudence and the other Noble and God-like Vertues which Religion teaches for the substance of Happiness does not consist in any thing without us though there are good Circumstances but in the Innocency of Mind and purity of Life Nil Conscire sibi nullà pallefcere culpâ in our being good and doing good which is the great Employment for which we came into the World So that there is a necessity of Religion in the World in order to the happy posture of humane affairs which all Mankind desire for themselves with unlimited wishes but are too narrow in their indeavors to promote it in Common unto others That this was the Wise and good Design of the great Creator is most apparent in that even in those obscure Ages of Barbarism and Ignorance Act. 14.16 17. at which the Apostles says God was pleased to wink yet he left not himself without a Witness When in times past he suffered all men to walk in their own ways they were not without some Religion which taught them their Duty in some Measure though imperfect both to the Gods for they supposed many and also to Men. THAT must of Necessity therefore be the truest Religion and most agreeable to the Will of God which approaches nearest to this Great Design and would certainly accomplish the End for which all Religion was intended And therefore the truth of any Religion must be measured according to the Proportion which it holds to promoting Peace Unity and Charity the only ways to obtain happiness in this World as well as Faith whereby we hope to obtain the happiness of a future state And what Religion soever separates these Good Works from Faith is so far vain and destroys that Faith it seems to profess for Faith without Works is dead If therefore any Religion ruines Peace Unity and Charity we must judg it so far false and erroneous let it make never so many Boasts of holding the true Faith of Christ Of all the Religions which ever were in the World the Christian Doctrine may justly challenge the Preheminence as conducting men if they would be managed by it the nearest way to Happiness both Temporal and Eternal and among all the variety of Opinions in the Christian Religion that must therefore of necessity be the best and truest which does most powerfully promote innocency of Life purity of Mind Unity and universal Peace not by external force and violence but by the same Methods which God Almighty made use of to plant and propagate it in the World which was not by Tumults Seditions or Disobedience to the Civil Magistrate but by meekness humility Charity and a Conversation unblameable Which were the Weapons by which the Primitive Christians were taught to put to silence the ignorance of folish Men The Church indeed had a power but it was purely Spiritual and those spiritual Arms were the most powerful to the pulling down and dismantling the strong holds of Sin and therefore even while the Temporal Powers of the Earth did all they could to suppress them yet mightily did the Word of God grow and increase not by opposing Rebelling or imposing Laws upon their Soveraigns but by submitting and suffering demonstrating upon all occasions their Innocence and that they were free from any ill designs upon the Civil Government of the World or the Temporal concerns of Mankind BUT because all and every Profession of Christian Religion every Church would have us beleive this of them and that therefore every one Challenges the name of the true Church of Christ here lies the Difficulty and the niceness of the Point Which is the best and truest And because all desire the Glorious Title therefore they quarrel about it who it is that is the Spouse of Christ Whereas one would Modestly believe that to be without Spot and Wrinkle is not to be appropriated to any particular Church in which there must be Tares and Chaff as well as Wheat but to the Holy Catholick Church I do not mean of Rome for She is but one Member that glorious Company of true Believers the General Assembly of the Church which have been and shall be in all Ages of the World and out of all Nations united unto Christ their Head A Church may be a true and a visible Church of Christ and yet have many Errors and so long as they keep the foundation of Faith though they may build Hay and Stubble upon that Foundation yet I do not see how they can be denyed that Name Thus we see St. Paul writes to the Church of God which is at Corinth 1 Cor. 1.2 to them that are Sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints And yet in that very Epistle he Complains of great Errors and Disorders among them Cap. 11. and an Abuse of the very Sacrament of the Lords Supper and so to the Church of the Galatians and yet he tartly calls them foolish Galatians and tells them they were bewitched into this Disobedience against the Truth and that he was
inexcusable by their own Judgment And if we do not prove the present Government Lawful and of Gods appintment both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Phillida solus habeto And till they have proved themselves Lawful Powers and the present Government Unlawful let them be obedient to its Decrees and Determinations as those Laws respect the good of the Civil Society if they will not as they respect the Religious CHAP. X. HAVING proceeded thus far in shewing the Design of the Outward Government of the Church to have a Political Respect as well as Temporal Laws to the happiness and well-being of Humane Society as well as a Religious Respect to future Felicity and that therefore upon this double account our Obedience is due to the Ecclesiastîcal Laws as well as the Temporal to which yet no Dissenters will own Disobedience to be Lawful because without Laws no Living and for the same reason therefore Obedience to both is a necessary part of Religion in the next place let us see how necessary therefore this Vnity in point of Government in the Church is upon this Political account in order to the happiness of the Society which is the End of all Laws and all Religion in this present state of Life AND this I conceive cannot better be done than by shewing the dangerous influence which Disunion in point of Government in the Church has upon the Civil Affairs of any Nation As true Religion makes men the best Subjects steddy in their Loyalty and Allegiance Faithful in their Trusts and Services industrious to promote the Common Good obedient to their Superiors kind to their Equals and humble to their Inferiors and always Religious observers of the Laws of God and Man So False Opinions when entertain'd for true Religion ever render Men the Worst And if there were nothing more in it yet would it be the great Interest of Princes to endeavour to propagate Christian Religion in its greatest Purity and to discountenance Errors Heresies Sects and Schisms as the best Expedient to secure themselves and Establish their Thrones upon the immoveable Basis and sure Foundation of the good Conscience of their Subjects For this surpasses all the Obligations of Laws all the Powers of Arms and all the Arts of Policy Laws without Conscience are like Sampsons green Wit hs which armed Interest and successful Ambition attended on with Fiery Zeal Jud. 16.9 will break to pieces as a thred of Tow when it touches the Flame The most Powerful Arms have no intail of Victory and though the Sword be a very good Guard for the Sceptre yet if the Sceptre turns into a Sword a thousand Instances will shew that it lays a slippery Foundation for a Crown which always stands most firm when set upon the Head of Princes by Love and Affection and not by the trembling hand of Fear The deepest Politicians are sometimes Men shallow and fordable subject to be deceived and their Counsels like Achitophels may be defeated and turned into Folly But Religion were it Universally practised Princes might disband those Auxiliary Succours of the Crown together with their Fears that raise them and might send their Jealousies those Envious Tormentors both of Crowns and Cottagers into perpetual Banishment For that teaches to smother Treason in the thought Eccles 10.20 and prevents the Necessity of Axes and Scaffolds Curse not the King not in thy thought is God's Command which they will not Transgress to gain the Empire of the World and lose their Souls Innocence is their Profession Peace their Study Integrity the joy of their Lives the delight of their Minds and the pleasure of their Deaths Not all the storms of Afflictions not all the shining Glories of the Vniverse can tempt them to throw off the White Mantle of unstained Innocence that Ermine of Religion Not all the tempting withcrafts of Dominion Riches Honour or Advantage can prevail with them to do the least Injury wilfully to their poorest Neighbour much less then to those Sacred Persons who are Gods on Earth and the true Christian if it were put to his choice had rather sit with Job cloathed with Ashes Miseries and Integrity upon the Dunghil of Poverty than be lifted from thence by the hand of Injustice or Violence to sit among Princes and wear the Dreaded Imperial Purple THIS is the happy Temper of Religion which teaches the Prince that Excellent Moderation to be so far from treading upon the Necks of his Subjects that he will not tread upon the Heels of their Properties or their Priviledges and in all his Laws to study their Interest as his own This teaches Subjects to study to be Quiet 1 Thess 4.11 and in stead of making Seditions Mutinies or Rebellions to make Devout and continual Supplications Prayers Intercessions 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. and giving of Thanks for Kings and all that are in Authority that so they may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty For this they are taught is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour Nor will they venture to cut off the least Skirt of Prerogative the lawful Inheritance of their Prince to inlarge their own or take one Jewel out of his Crown to Adorn or Inrich themselves withall They will not Deplume the Royal Eagle of his to Feather their own Nests The thirst of Ambition which cannot be quenched with any thing but the Illustrious Blood of Soveraigns is an absolute Stranger to their very thoughts and they will rather sacrifice their own Lives and Fortunes than see his in Danger All their Desires are confined to a little here and their Ambition aspires lawfully after no other Crown but that of a Glorious Immortality Now to the obtaining of any tollerable Degrees of this Happy State as there is one God one Faith one Baptism so it is absolutely Necessary that in one Nation there be one Form of Government in the Church as well as State And that if it be not possible that all People should be of one Mind as to matters of Opinion yet that they should be of one Mind as to Obedience to Government in Church and State which is matter of Faith And it is but highly Reasonable that private Opinion should confine it self to private Breasts its proper Sphere and not be permitted to walk abroad to affront Authority and the publique Peace Interest and Happiness of a whole Nation no more than particular Gain is suffered to undo the Publick Stock DIFFERENCE in Opinion may well be Tollerated and indeed cannot be avoided but yet were men managed by Modesty though not Religion there need be no Mischief from it But to publish Private Opinion for Publique and necessary Truth and to endeavour to impose it upon others and upon Authority it self is a practice of the most pernicious Usurpation and Consequence in any Government For this Opposition of Opinions naturally produces a Disunion of Mind absolutely Destructive of Government which is to Unite all the Members
as Rehum the Chancellor of Artaxerxes said falsly of the City of Jerusalem Ezr. 4.15 If search be made in the Book of Records of our Fathers we shall find and know that these Principles are Rebellious Principles and hurtful unto Kings and Provinces and that they have moved Sedition in former times Tragical Remembrances are still fresh how with their Horns of Iron they push't and wounded and murder'd the Church and State and how thousands of innocent souls fell into the Pit of Division which they had open'd Nay Lam. 4.20 The breath of our Nostrils the anointed of the Lord was taken in their Pits And if they will still be pushing and still make the Pit wider and deeper they cannot but know what they deserve both by the Law of God by the Law of Nature which teaches all Creatures self Preservation by the Law of Nations which designs the common good and happiness of Mankind and by the Law of our Land which is made to secure the Peace and Prosperity of the Society of which all such are unworthy Members or to speak truth rather the Diseases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than parts of the Body Politick both in Church and State BUT supposing the best that we can in admitting of different Forms of Church Government in the same Nation and that they should have no Seditious Intentions or Inclinations yet would it be impossible to Cure the Prince or the People of those mutual Fears and Jealousies the uneasie Companions of Mens minds which rob the one of the Pleasure of their Crowns and the other of the satisfaction of their Lives which must spring from this Fountain and which will load the Government with continual Cares and put it upon such immoderate Watchings as will scarce permit it to sleep and however will not suffer even the sleep of those who labour in it to be sweet unto them For we must either suppose the Supreme Governor to be of Gallio's Faith Act. 18.17 and that he cares for none of these things or which would be as kind to him that he is of the Grand Signiors Religion whom one may well place as the Italian Painter did one of our Kings between Moses Mahomet and Messiah Pasquil Hen. 8. with a Quò me vertam Nescio in his mouth or we must suppose him to joyn with some one of these Churches For should he to day go to the Cathedral and to morrow to the Conventicle one while to the Bull and Mouth to a silent Meeting another resort to the Anabaptists and so walk the round of Religions every one of these would doubt him not to be of their Church and by endeavouring to oblige all Religions he would be suspected to have no Religion at all and should he firmly adhere to any one he would thereby disoblige all the rest who would be Jealous that he did not love them that he only Tollerates them pro tempore for his convenience or to serve the Interest of his Affairs and that if he were settled and secured at home and abroad he would retrench their Liberty And by how much both he believed and they knew that their Mutual Safety and Security were inconsistent one with another by so much more their Fears and Jealousies of each other would encrease this would necessitate them to create him troubles and Difficulties in his Government at home and abroad that so the fear of greater Inconveniencies in opposing or suppressing them might make any attempts to secure himself that way dangerous and Impracticable that so by being unsecure for him they might secure themselves These Practices and underhand Artifices and Correspondencies with Forrein Powers to ballance his or give him Diversions must of necessity render any Prince Jealous of them for no Prince can be free from fears and jealousies who does not beleive himself secure and no Prince can think himself so who daily finds his Subjects using all Arts imaginable to traverse his Designs and asperse his Government by raising Fears and Jealousies of his Designs against their Religion or Liberty and continually perverting all Occurrences of State not only to Establish those suspicions in the minds of their own Party but to make use of them as Engines to draw in others to joyn and side with them by perswading them that if they do not All will be lost Priviledg Property and Religion will all be swallowed up by Prerogative And every several Sect having gain'd the Opinion among their Followers that theirs is the only true Religion they will believe without any difficulty that the Government which would debar them of that will make no Scruple of taking from them all they have And because none of this can be done with their consent therefore necessarily an Arbitrary Power must be introduced to effect it and when mens minds come to be infected with this Jaundice it turns every thing into the Colour of their Suspicion So that the Prince cannot raise any Arms for the Defence of his Crown against a Forrein Power but presently that is only a pretence and the real Design is to rule by the Sword he cannot demand any supplies of Money for the most pressing Occasions of the Publique Affairs but it will be denyed or delayed lest it should be misemploy'd to the erecting an Arbitrary Tyranny and thus whilest these Fears and Jealousies play the Tyrants over both the Prince is run upon one of these two Rocks either the necessity of Supplying and Supporting himself Arbitrarily with what they would not afford him Legally and which they ought to have done voluntarily or otherways to expose himself to the Contempt of his Neighbours and the Danger of their Arms and thereby of the Ruine and Subversion of the Government or else to the Usurpations of his own Subjects upon his Crown and Dignity THEN shall every man who is a true and a Loyal Friend to his Prince be esteemed a Traytor to his Countrey a wise or faithful Counsellor and therefore in his Princes favour shall be adjudged an Enemy to the People a Conspirator against their Priviledges and Religion And if these Jealousies have gain'd a Party so numerous as to be Confident or if they can perswade the Populace into an Ephesian Tumult for they know not what then shall the Lives of the Princes surest Friends be demanded as Sacrifices to Atone the Popular Frenzy and their Blood must quench and allay this fire of Jealousie It were well if this had only been our Case in the Noble Earl of Strafford and Arch-Bishop Lawd who fell the first Victims to this Idol of the Peoples fears which for all that grew afterwards into a Flame so raging that whole Rivers of Blood and even of that which made the Ax blush and will England for ever were not able to extinguish till it had burnt the most Glorious Government the Sun sees in all his travels into Rubbish and Ashes SOME seditious Pamphlets lately thrown abroad in the World and
of Less Extent are to be regulated were intended as a defence and Protection to all providing one injure not another and that Common Peace and Safety be secured No other Subsequent inferiour Law can therefore debar any peaceable Christian that answers the Necessities of Church and State Civil Spiritual and Political in equal Justice and in Foro Conscientiae from this Priviledge Originally due to all And this he fortifies with the Confession of a Presbyterian Divine without a Name who never saw any Argument yet that could clearly Evince why any sort of Men who would profess a peaceable subjection unto the Civil Government might not in all their Civil Rights be protected by it Does not this oblige every Government to an easie Credulity to its own Ruine For the greatest of its Enemies will profess this Subjection till they have power to effect their Ends and by this Rule there is no care to be taken of Mens Principles or Practices if they can but speak Fair and profess they mean no hurt to the Government no matter for what may happen afterward the Governours may sleep securely till their throats are cut by these harmless Professors BUT taking this for a Maxim granted I proceed upon his own Words That no Tolleration of different Religion is to be permitted and that first from the Apostle St. Pauls Rule pag. 49. Hast thou Faith have it to thy self And seeing that Vniversal Vnity among Christians is not to be attained such a Tolleration of things tollerable is not only Lawful but necessary where a Latitude or Liberty is left in such things as are not clearly and positively laid down in Scripture in things of private Practice Which is just giving that Liberty which no man can take away every man being at liberty to believe and do so so long as he keeps it to himself and that it is Tollerable Faith by being to himself and his practice is truly private But why then does the Church of Rome Command us to believe Supremacy Purgatory Transubstantiation c. which are not clearly nor positively laid downin Scripture is this Good Just and Equal dealing with us BUT Secondly I Argue from his own Reason because nothing is more clear than that this Tolleration must of necessity destroy that Original Fundamental Law of Protection due to all from the Government which will not be able to Protect it self since it must Embroyl the Government and indanger its Ruine that being the very thing for which Tolleration is so earnestly desired For a Wise Government pag. 50 51. may tollerate at least in a private way with the Old bounty of giving what they cannot help different Opinions when otherwise the Publique may be intangled or indangered or rather because the Conscience cannot be compelled or Faith forced and more especially if they be such Religions as do not overthrow the Foundations of Truth nor such as disturb or impugn the Government Establisht or if the Professors thereof be such as are not Factious or pertinacious but Honest Simple Tractable Obedient to Superiors having no other End in holding their Opinions in Religion than Gods Glory or satisfaction of their own Conscience and withall are willing to submit to better Judgments when they are convinced to be Erroneous Pag. 52. For we ought to have a Latitude of Charity for those who Dissent if they be not Impostors or turbulent Incendiaries And who are there that will own themselves to be such It looks like Oliver Remonstrating or a Declaration of 41. and by this Rule all Sects Heresies and Rebels if they may be their own Compurgatorâ— must be Tollerated too since they will Profess all that is here desired for Tolleration but by clear Consequence if notwithstanding these Professions they do intangle and indanger the Government then they are not be Tollerated but the Tolleration of all Sects though Charitably supposing them not Hereticks does not only destroy some one Fundamental of Religion but Religion in the Main by making it Morally impossible for any Man to know where he shall find a true Religion and plainly introduces Mahometanism that a Man may be saved in any and will confirm the Atheist and Libertine in their Opinions that there is no such thing more than in Mens melancholy Humors And it is impossible but the Professors of different Religions will be Factious and Disobedient to Superiors as daily Experience assures us and to Tollerate them is to give them leave to be so and to hold their Opinions for the subversion of Government and not satisfaction of Conscience as some who called themselvs Papists as well as other Dissenters have done in former times and for ought we know Design the same again and therefore I conclude with the Advocate p. 55. That where every one has Liberty to hold what he pleases which by this profession cannot be denied him so soon as he believes his Party strong enough to grapple with Authority he will Publish and Preach what he holds confined to no Rule or Order but contemning Law will Rule as a Transcendent and as he quotes the most incomparable Hooker lib. 3. cap. 107. Let them tell us of Obeying the Laws of God as long as they please we dare not believe them who break the Laws of those appointed by God to Rule over them For it is a Distinction without a Difference to seperate and divide the Laws of God from the Laws of Men and unless we observe both we Obey neither pag. 56. In these Cases says our Advocate Christian Governors are not to regard such Pleas for private Liberty as overthrow Publique Order and Peace Nor to regard those Clamours against them and the Laws as Persecuting when they do but oppose and restrain such perillous Exorbitancies as strike at the Foundation of Christianity and open a gap to Atheism Profaneness and Blasphemy here the Magistrate must interpose his Coercive Power for remedy Nor are they in this infringers of the Peoples Liberty but preservers of freedom not Oppressors of others Consciences but dischargers of their own by prohibiting men to vent their raw undigested Fancies to others to start Principles distructive to Government subverting Order violating Laws breaking Oaths and contemning Authority publiquely acting according to private Perswasion not regarding common Order or publique Peace but by a Seditious and Factious Liberty broaching their Opinions to others And there is a great deal of Reason why the Magistrate should use this Power to crush the Cockatrice in the Egg For pag. 58. if the publique Power shall suffer arrogant Ignorance excess of Passion perverseness of Will to come to its full Rudeness and Extent which it can do no way so readily as by Tolleration Tumultuary Numbers and Brutish Power will soon make good private Presumptions and cover the most Impudent Lusts Passions and Ambitions of Men with the Pleas and Outcrys of Christian Liberty And those who hold forth Notions and Conceptions of Reformation or wholly changing Religion and Goverment
it may be we are owing for that Dislike and Aversion if not hatred of Dissenters to Episcopacy rather to their little travail in Antiquity which they despise because they do not know than to any solid Arguments they can bring against it I am satisfied that it is necessary for the Discovery of the Rise Growth Reason and occasion of Errors and Heresies which are apt for want of this to revive and spring up again and to see how they have been condemned by the Catholick Church and the Reasons why all that I have to say is That it may be so restrained as not to deserve St. Pauls Character of vain Philosophy by committing Outrages and Insolencies upon our Faith For till such time as men come to quit themselves from these Usurpations upon their Understanding 1 Tim. 6.20 by the Oppositions of Science falsly so called and can be perswaded not to Credit their own Opinions or those of their Party with an equal certainty as they do those Truths which are Divinely revealed from Heaven there is little possibility of Reconciling them one to another in the amicable composure of Christian Meekness as it is to Reconcile their Opinions one to another or to Truth and so long as men contend with the same Animosity and Eagerness for either side of a Theological Question as they do for that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Jude they will never entertain any kinder thoughts of one another than that both are Hereticks when after all their hot Contention they cannot arrive at a higher degree of knowledge than Probability and that amounts to no more than this that though one part of the Opinion may be true yet it is possible that both may be false and why then should this be obtruded upon any other Person as de Fide THERE is nothing that puzzles our Understandings more than the Modes of things nor are we more in a Mist than when we come to the How 's How is this done or how comes that to be so this is indeed the Terra delfuego the Intellectualis Incognita in which the boldest Adventurers are but Coasters and can give but a lame account of all those vast Territories and Inland Regions of the Understanding I dare undertake to plunge the most learned Philosopher in the World about the meanest Insect the smallest Plant how they are produced how preserved and increased and how they return again to the Common bosom of the first Matter and though this present Age notwithstanding the derision of the Ignorant has made the greatest Advances in Experimental Philosophy and travail'd further in the Modes of things than all that ever were before yet I am confident their knowledge does but shew them their Ignorance and teaches them Modestly to confess that their highest attainments are terminated in Probabilities and rational Conjectures and not in Certainties What is plainer than that the Sun shines and that by the light of it we discover all visible Objects but how remains sub judice and will do so till Elias comes as the Rabbins say and will be the perpetual puzzle both of the Peripateticks and Cartesian Globularians Since then we are such strangers to our very senses and their Natural Objects which appear plain to us with which we converse so constantly and familiarly how can we expect to make greater progresses of knowledge in the Vnderstanding when the Soul it self would be a great Riddle in despight of all Philosophy if Faith did not come in to its reskue nor can I tell which way without that assistance it would be able to defend its Original or Duration its Immortality or Distinction from that of Brutes more then in degrees And though an Apostle who himself was admitted into the Glorious Regions of the third Heavens 2 Cor. 12.2 3. could not tell how Whether in the Body or out of the Body God knows and therefore Experimentally assures us 1 Cor. 13.12 That we see through a Glass darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the obscurity of a riddle and that we know but in part Yet all this notwithstanding such is the Opinion that we have of our Knowledge and Discoveries and more commonly in Divinity than any thing that Magisterially we pronounce our Opinion for undoubted truth our beloved Fancies for Objects of Faith and our Conjectures for Certainties and proud of our imaginary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole World must know it to do us Honor for the Discovery and must honor us by believing it or become our Hatred There can never be the least hope of Vnity no more than there is possibility of Vnanimity unless men will agree about some Common Principles which may be the Centre of Christianity where though their Opinions in Circumstantials which are not contrary to Faith and good Manners may be permitted to be drawn at a distance towards the Circumference yet all their Actions may be United and terminate in the Vnity of Charity I know it is a high and hazardous Attempt to offer any such thing to the Consideration or but View of the World the hight amazes me and is ready not only to turn my Brains but all the Resolutions I can assure my self withal back again from the Enterprise I tremble though even with the greatest Humility I speak my thoughts in an Affair of that Moment the very thinking of which is not excusable from all Presumption and looks but too like being wise in my own Eyes and prudent in my own Conceit but as I do it with all submissive Charity so I hope I shall find Charity from others and that part of it which hides a multitude of Faults THERE are three things which appear the Foundation of all Dissention First What is Matter of Faith Secondly What is the true Form of Government Thirdlp The Judge of Differences and Controversies For Christians dissent and separate from one another either because they imagin of each other that they do not believe aright or because they dislike the Government or because they will not submit to any Determinations being not agreed among themselves of a Common Judge of Controversies WE will begin with the first Now Faith being the Foundation of Christian Religion is The firm Assent of the mind to the Certainty of such Propositions as are the Conditions required by God to be by us believed in Order to our living well here So as that we may obtain Eternal Happiness hereafter in Heaven For as the Author to the Hebrews Heb. 11.6 says Without Faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh unto God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that seek him Faith being therefore the Foundation of Practice and so absolutely requisite to Salvation and the Design of Almighty God 1 Tim. 2.4 6. being that all men should be saved by coming to the knowledg of the Truth For Christ gave himself a Ransom for All. It must
Honourable the Earl of Orrory in Fol. Fifty one Sermons Preached by the Reverend Doctor Mark Frank Master of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge Arch-Deacon of St. Albans Prebend and Treasurer of St. Pauls c. Being a course of Sermons beginning at Advent and so continued through the Festivals to which is added a Sermon Preached at Pauls Cross in the year 1641. and then commanded to be Printed by King Charles the First in Fol. The Common Prayer Book in Folio in Welch c. Two Sermons Preach't at the Funerals of the Right Honourable Robert Lord Lexington and the Lady Mary his Wife by Samuel Holden A. M. late of Lincoln Colledge in Oxford and Chaplain to his Lordship Deceased in Quarto Christian Ethicks or Divine Morality opening the way to Blessedness by the Rules of Vertue and Reason by Thomas Trahern B. D. in Octav. Roman Forgeries or a true Account of false Records Discovering the Impostures and Counterfeit Antiquities of the Church of Rome by the same Author in Octav. Daily Devotions consisting of Thanksgivings Confessions and Prayers in Two Parts by an humble Penitent in Twelves The Camparison of Plato and Aristotle with the Opinions of the Fathers on their Doctrines and some Christian Reflections together with judgment on Alexander and Caesar as also on Seneca Plutarch and Petronius in Octav. Observations on the Poems of Homer and Virgil A Discourse representing the Excellencies of those Works and the Perfections in general of all Heroick Actions in Octav. The Causes and Remedies of the Distempers of the Times in certain Discourses of Obedience and Disobedience in Octav. Songs and Poems by Thomas Flatman the Second Edition in Octav. Horological Dialogues in Three Parts shewing the Nature Use and right Managing of Clocks and Watches with an Appendix containing Mr. Oughtreds Method for Calculating of Numbers in Octav. The True Liberty and Dominion of Conscience Vindicated from the Usurpations and Abuses of Opinion and Perswasion The Countermine or A short but true Discovery of the Dangerous Principles and Secret Practices of the Dissenting Party Especially the Presbyterians Shewing that Religion is Pretended but Rebellion is Intended And in order thereto The Foundation of Monarchy in the State and Episcopacy in the Church are Undermined The Common Interest of King and People shewing the Original Antiquity and Excellency of Monarchy compared with Aristocracy and Democracy and particularly of our English Monarchy and that Absolute Papal and Presbyterian Popular Supremacy are utterly inconsistent with Prerogative Property and Liberty The Project of Peace or Unity of Faith and Government the only Expedient to procure Peace both Foreign and Domestique and to Preserve these Nations from the Danger of Popery and Arbitrary Tyranny A Just and Seasonable Reprehension of Naked Breasts and Shoulders Written by a grave and Learned Papist Translated by Edward Cooke Esquire with a Preface by Mr. Richard Baxter The Monk Unvail'd or A Facetious Dialogue Discovering the several Intrigues and subtil Practices together with the Lewd and Scandalous Lives of Monks Fryers and other pretended Religious Votaries of the Church of Rome Written by an Eminent Papist in French faithfully Translated by C. V. Gent. Fons Scarburgensis sive Tractatus de Omnis Aquarum generis Origine ac usu Particulariter de Fonte Minerali apud Scarbrough in Comitatu Eboracensi Angliae Item Dissertationes variae tà m Philosophicae quà m Medicinales quas cum Sectionum titulis Pagina Librum proximè praecedens exibet Autore Roberto Wittie M. D. C. Julius Caesar Nomismaticus sive Dissertatio Historica Dionis Cassii Scriptoris Graeci Selectiora Commata C. J. Caesaris Ortum Dignitates Connubia Interitum Rogum Apotheosin Complexa Nomismatum demonstratione illustrans J. Seobaldi Fabrici S. Theol. D. Academiae Heidelbergensis Professoris Comitis Palatini ADVERTISEMENT THere is now in the Press and near Reprinted The Fairy Queen c. By Edmond Spenser FINIS